Loader



Jan. 2s, 1947.

LE GRAND H. LULL LOADER Filed Mai'ch 5, 1945 0/ uw Q o o/ 0.@ W o R om um. m www .n nu m www o Nh Wk. M .v En m mv ,G\ e bq b k Jan. 28; 19747.

LE -GRAND H. LULL LOADER Filed llarch 5,A 1945 3 Smets-Sheet 2 Jan. 23, 1947.

LE GRAND H. LULL LOADER Filed March 5. 1945 55m/va fill/U 3 Sheets-Sheat 3 Patented Jan. 28, 1947 AUNITED STATES PATENT osi-lcs` annals Loansa Le Grand E. Lilli, Minneapolis, Minn. application mmh 5, 194s, sei-n1 No. 531,079

3 Claims.

IThis invention relates to improvements in loaders or load handling and lifting mechanisms for support on and operation -by a tractor.

It is a DOPular practice at the present time to mount various typesof loaders, for general outdoor use in road maintenance, snow removal and all similar Jobs requiring. a heavy duty load handling means, upon tractors of conventional type. 'I'his combination of tractor and loader enables the loader manufacturer to purchase tractors on the open market of the type best suited for his use and the tractor then forms a supporting and actuating vehicle for the loader without requiring the building of a special engine-operated vehicular machine. Since the tractors are widely 'used and manufactured in large quantities they are obviously much less expensive than would be special machines builtin the comparatively small quantities necessary for loader production.

All such tractor-loader combinations with which I am familiar have, however, .been limited 2 a complete'automotive vehicle at much greater cost than that of commercial tractor of equivalent power.

I have found it both practicable and practical to mount a heavy duty loader upon the rear end l of a tractor to thus place the load directly on the traction wheels where it is best supported and gives traction. advantages, while reducing the ldhd upon the steerable front wheels. I thus ing the building of an expensive automotive machine to take the place of the usualtractor.

Another object of my present invention is to provide a rear end mounted` loader-tractor assembly wherein provision is made for operating in their load handlingcapacity for the reason that they have necessarilybeen supported upon the forward end of the tractor so that the tractor could be manipulated and maneuvered in the usual manner. Such front end mounting of the loader at once limits the permissible load for sev#- eral reasons. Chief of these is the fact that the larger part of the weight of the loader and of its load is placed upon the front wheels of the tractor, and these wheels being invariably comparatively small, are necessarily limitedin the load which may be applied. c Furthermore the application of the load at the front of the tractor has a pronounced tendency t'o lift the rear end thereof, turning the entire assembly about the axisof the front wheels as a center, and/ thus traction is reduced at the rear wheels. This tendency is, of course, aggravated by raising the load. Other disadvantages arise in the opere` tion of such tractor-loader combinations as will be apparent to those skilled in the art and one which bears mention herein is the interference with steering movements of the front wheels due to the increased load thereon. In fact it is found that the heavier the load the more difficult it is to steer the tractor and the greater the loss in' complete machines including a wheeled frame. engine and loader and with the loader located adiacent or over theftraction wheels and on the end of the frame oppositeto that carrying the steerable wheels. This type of construction, known generally to the art as an industrial truck.

overcomes some of the disadvantages hereinbev fore enumerated. but at .the expense of building the tractor at several speeds in the direction of the end at which the loader is mounted, and at least one speed in the opposite direction. That is, the tractor is now operated in what was pre? viously the reverse gear at several speeds, while in previously forward gear thetractor is operated at one comparatively slow speed. This change is readily accomplished by the .change in position of only one gear in the train between the engine and drive or traction Wheelsof the tractor, after which the usual gear shift'mechanism. operates in the usual fashion to change .travel direction and speeds. Y

A further object is to provide fa simple and rugged and effective -mounting by which the loader may be readily mounted on'the.v tractor, and by which an operators station may be readily arranged adiacent to the previously forward end of the tractor. The various controls are then, in accordance with Vmy invention, shifted to the newly located operatorsjstation for convenience .in handlingand-controlling boththe tractor and the loader.y

`'These and other more detailedv and specific objects will be disclosed in the course of-the following speciflcation, reference being lhad-to the accompanying drawings, in winch- Y Fig. l is a perspective, sideelevational view of my improved loader.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the frame by y which the loader is supported upon the tractor.

Referring now-more particularly and by ref- 1 erence characters to the drawings A designates i generally the tractor and B the loader forming the basic parts of the loader assembly. The tractor is a commercially available model in which various alterations are made as will presently appear while the-loader is identical in construc- 1946. No claim is herein made to the loader, per

se, and it will be only so far described as neces sary to the understanding of my present invention.

'I'hus the loader comprises a rigid inner frame or tower C made up of spaced upright channels IIl-II (Fig. 3), along outer sides of which are journaled rollers I2. The loader further includes a vertically movable outer frame D comprising side members I3 and I4 having inwardly opening channels adapted to be guided by and roll upon the rollers I2. A work holder E is then provided and has brackets I5 fitted with rollers I6 whichroll in and are guided by outwardly opening channels in the side members I3 and I4, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The work holder E serves as a support for any 4desired type of load carrier, such as a bucket, indicated at F, and while the bucket is normally supported in the position herein illustrated it is provided with trip mechanism operated by a trip rope I1 which permitsit to tilt forward to discharge its load.

As stated, the tractor A is a conventional commercially available type and it comprises a wheel borne frame designated generally at I8,` having rear axle housings I9 upon the ends of which are mounted dual traction wheels 20. 'I'he front end of the frame, whereat the engine is located, is supported by dirigible front wheels 2| mounted at the ends of an axle 22 which is attached at its center to a pedestal designated generally at 23. The pedestal 23 is ordinarily bolted direetly to the underside of a casting 24 forming a lower forward part of the tractor frame, the bolts fo!` this purpose being indicated at 25 in Fig. 4. The tractor here shown is actually of the so-called frameless type wherein the engine and transmission and differential housings are al1 boltedltogether and form a unitary construction upon the ends of which the wheels are mounted. 'The frame I8, as heretofore referred to, therefore includes the transmission and differential housing, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3, and within that housing there isprovided a drive pinion 26 which meshes with the drive gear 21 of a differential mechanism 28. Said differential 23 is supported on andl drives transversely axised jack shafts 29 journaled in the sides of the transmission housings and carrying brake drums 30 at the outer ends. Said jack shafts also carry and drive the pinions 3| which mesh with large ygears 32 upon the ends of the axles 33 for driving the traction wheels 20. The gear change and transmission mechanism (not shown) is located forwardly of and drives the pinion 26 under the control of a gear shift lever 34.

For mounting the loader B upon the tractor A, I provide a frame designated generally at G,

'and comprising spaced -side beams 35 and 36 adapted to be laid at rear ends upon the rear axle housing I9 and to extend forwardly therefrom in slightlyl converging relation well inwardly of the front wheels 2|. The rear ends of the beams 35 and 36 are provided with arcuate notches 31 adapted to straddle the rear axle housings I9 and the beams are anchored thereto by means of U-bolts 38 which are placed upwardly around the axle housing and passed at their upper ends through openings 39 in the beams and equipped with nuts 40 by which the beams may be drawn 'tightly against the housings. 'Ihe forward ends of the beams35 and '36 are joined by a cross plate 4I welded or other-Y wise suitably secured to the undersides of the beams, and provided at its center with openings 42 adapted 'to pass the aforesaid bolts 26. In

mounting the frame, the pedestal 23 is removed and then replaced With the plate 42 between the pedestal and the casting 24 after which when the bolts 26 are replaced and drawn tight the for*- .ward end of the frame will be anchored solidly to the tractor. The rear ends of the beams 35 and 36 are provided with vertical mounting plates 43 welded in place and depending from the beams. The lower ends of the mounting plates 43 are rigidly braced by brackets 44 which incline upwardly and forwardly and are welded at 45 to the undersides of the beams. The lower ends of the mounting plates.43 are further joined by a cross plate 46 secured in place by bolts 41 and supported, as shown in Fig. 4, well below the level of the beams 35and 36. The lower ends of the fixed frame channels I0 and I I are then bolted at 48 to the cross plate 46 rigidly securing the lower end of the loader to the frame G. Additional rigidity is provided by means of braces 49 secured to the upper ends of" the channels I0 and Il extending downwardly and forwardly and anchored at 50 to the beams 35 and 36.

With the loader thus mounted it will be apparent that the weight thereof is supported by far to the greatest extent upon the large traction wheels 26 so that adequate traction is available at all times. At the same time, the front wheels 2l are relieved of the load to a large extent so that steering may be carried out easily. In fact, it will be apparent that the greater the load the more ease with which steering may be accomplished and the greater the traction that will be available to move the load. I thus accomplish the yfirst object-of my invention as herebefore stated, but for greatest convenience'in operation various changes must be made in the tractor, as will now be set forth. First of all, the tractor must now run in a rearward direction in order properly to operate the loader and the ordinary tractor has only a single speed in reverse while -it has several speeds ranging from low to high in the forward direction. I accordingly reverse this condition causingthe tractor to run in the reverse direction with the greatest available range of speeds, and to accomplish this I merely reverse the position of the differential 28. Referring to Fig. 3, the differential 28 is conventionally positioned with the gear 21 upon the right hand side looking forward of the drive pinion 26, as indicated by the dotted lines 21a. By' pulling the jack shafts 29 the differential may be flopped over to place the gear 21 upon the left hand side of the pinion 26,' as it is here shown. Obviously this has the effect of reversing the direction at which the 'pinions 3I and gears 32 are rotated by a given direction of rotation of the pinion 26 so that, under control of the transmission and gear change mechanism the several speeds of the gear 26.ranging from low ,to high which previously operated the rear axles '33 in a direction for forward travel now turn the axles in the opposite direction so the forward end of the tractor and for this` purpose I provide a platform which is supported by brackets 52 upon the lefthand beam 36 along side the tractor and adjacent the forward end thereof. The operators seat 53 is mounted by its bracket 5I upon an upwardly offset portion 55 of the platform, placing the operator above the left front wheel 2| and in a well elevated position at which he can see over the rear wheels and most conveniently operate the loader. The steering wheel 55 is then arranged conveniently to the rear of the seat 53 and the steering column or shaft 51 runs down through the platform 5I where it makes connection to a conventional steering gear housing 53. This housing 53, removed from the rear of the tractor and replaced below the platform 5I, is supported in a .bracket 59 secured along side the beam 36, and the steering arm 6U is connected to the steering rod 8| in the usual manner. The steering rod 6I must, however, be reduced in length in order to bring its rear end up forwardly forv connection to the arm 60, and for this purpose the rod may have a portion removed and the ends then welded together, as indicated at 62, in Fig. 4. A shaft indicated at 63 is supported by brackets 64 below and slightly rearwardly of the platform 5I and upon this shaft are supported the brake pedals, indi cated generally at 65. The pedals are thus positioned for convenient manipulation from` the seat 53 and connections are made to the brakes in any suitable manner. Likewise, a clutch pedal 66 and accelerator pedal 61 are provided upon the platform 5l and connections made between these parts and the appropriate parts of the tractor, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The gear shift lever 43 is operated 33 at its forward endadjacent the seat 53 and having a ball and socket connection 10 at the rear end with the upper end of the lever. Between its ends the .control rod 68 is movably supported in a bridge bracket 1l which is secured at its ends to the side beams 35 and 36 and 'which straddles the fuel tank of the tractor.

The instrument panel and box 12 previously mounted at the rear of the tank is replaced in a forwardly facing position at the left side of the bracket 1| The trip rope I1 is extended forwardly and connected to a trip lever 13 pivoted at 1l alongside the platform 5| so that it may be conveniently operated by the right hand of the driver seated upon the seat 53. The loader B is hydraulically operated under control of a valve 15 mounted upon a supply tank 16 which is supported upon the right hand side beam 35. Control of the valve 15 is accomplished by means of 6 shaft 13 carries an upright lever 8D which is connected by a link 8| to the valve actuating lever 8.2 so that manipulation of the hand lever 11 will properly control the valve to raise and lower the load. j'

It is found in practice that sometimes additional weight is required at the forward endV of the tractor to counteract the tendency thereof to rise when an extremely heavy load is being transported. For this purpose I provide counterweights 83 which may be suitably arranged and supported upon the forward ends of the side beams4 35 and 36.

Of the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a tractor loader combination by which very heavy loads may be readily lifted and transported while maintaining adequate traction and the maximum of steering ease in the operation of the tractor. ,A The changes required in the tractor itself are minor in nature and it will obviously be far less expensive to the loader manufacturer to obtain a commercially available tractor at the comparatively low prices now prevalent and make these changes rather than to construct an entirely new engine operated vehicle to achieve the same results.

It 1s understood that suitable modmcatlons may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1.`The combination with a tractor having a rear axle and a front axle and a pedestal by which the said front axle is secured to the front of the tractor, a loader mounting frame having side beams disposed one at each side of the tractor, the rear ends of the beams being rested on the rear axle and secured'thereto, and a cross plate connecting the forward ends ofthe beams and rested upon the said pedestal.

2. The combination with a tractor having a rear axle and a front axle and a pedestal by which the said front axle is secured to the front of the tractor, a loader mounting frame having side beams disposed one at each side of the trac- -tor, the rear ends of the beams being rested on the rear axle and secured thereto, and a cross plate connecting the forward ends of the beams and rested upon the front axle pedestal and clamped between said pedestal and said forward 'end of the tractor, a loader, and the rear ends tractor, the rear ends of the beams being rested` on therear axle andsecured thereto. a cross plate connecting the forward ends of the beams and` rested upon the said pedestal, upright mounting plates extending from the rearendsof the side beams and forwardly braced thereto, and a loader having an upright frame assembly secured to said mounting plates.

Ymrcamu:aimant.' 

